1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a camera, more particularly to an Advanced Photo System (APS) camera having an autofocus (AF) device.
2. Description of Related Art
An APS camera is usually equipped with an autofocus device having a light projecting part and a light receiving part, which are located at both sides of an objective lens of a finder. The longer a base line length between the light projecting part and the light receiving part is, the more accurate the measurement of an object distance by the autofocus device is. However, if the camera is not designed well so as to have the long base line length, it will result in the camera that is bulky.
An APS film cartridge contains a 24 mm film, and is provided with a light-shielding door at a film feed aperture. Thus, the APS camera in particular has to be provided with a drive mechanism for opening and closing the light-shielding door of the APS film cartridge loaded in a film cartridge chamber of the camera. The light-shielding door drive mechanism must be arranged over the film cartridge chamber. In the conventional APS camera, the light projecting part and the light receiving part of the autofocus device are arranged aside the light-shielding door drive mechanism in order to keep the height of the camera short. Hence, an adequate base line length of the autofocus device is conventionally secured by lengthening the width of the camera.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a camera in which the base line length of the autofocus device is enough without increasing the size of the camera.
The above object can be accomplished by providing a camera comprising: a camera body; a film cartridge chamber formed in the camera body, the film cartridge chamber housing a film cartridge provided with a light-shielding door; a film winding chamber formed in the camera body, the film winding chamber having a take-up spool winding a photographic film fed from the film cartridge housed in the film cartridge chamber; an autofocus device arranged in the camera body, the autofocus device having a light projecting part and a light receiving part to measure an object distance; and a light-shielding door drive mechanism which opens and closes a light-shielding door of the film cartridge housed in the film cartridge chamber, wherein: one of the light projecting part and the light receiving part of the autofocus device is arranged above the film cartridge chamber, the one of the light projecting part and the light receiving part having a recession formed at a bottom thereof; and at least a part of the light-shielding door drive mechanism is arranged between the film cartridge chamber and the recession of the one of the light projecting part and the light receiving part.
Alternatively, the above object can be accomplished by providing a camera comprising: a camera body; a film cartridge chamber formed in the camera body, the film cartridge chamber housing a film cartridge; a film winding chamber formed in the camera body, the film winding chamber having a take-up spool winding a photographic film fed from the film cartridge housed in the film cartridge chamber; an autofocus device arranged in the camera body, the autofocus device having two light receiving parts to measure an object distance; and a light-shielding door drive mechanism which opens and closes a light-shielding door of the film cartridge housed in the film cartridge chamber, wherein: one of the two light receiving parts of the autofocus device is arranged above the film cartridge chamber, the one of the two light receiving parts having a recession formed at a bottom thereof; and at least a part of the light-shielding door drive mechanism is arranged between the film cartridge chamber and the recession of the one of the two light receiving parts.
According to the present invention, one of the light projecting part and the light receiving part of the autofocus device is arranged above the film cartridge chamber, and the part of the light-shielding door drive mechanism is arranged between the film cartridge chamber and the recession formed at the bottom of the one of the light projecting part and the light receiving part.
Consequently, even if the light-shielding door drive mechanism and the light receiving part or the light projecting part of the autofocus device are arranged above the film cartridge chamber, the height of the camera body of the camera of the present invention is equal to the height of the comparative camera body in which only the light receiving part or the light projecting part of the autofocus device is arranged above the film cartridge chamber. Therefore, the height of the camera is reduced by the thickness of the light-shielding door drive mechanism.